Of course, the producers of goods may develop standards through voluntary agreement, if there is a widespread consensus that such standards are necessary. For instance, synthesizers, samplers, computers, and other music-related digital devices communicate with one another through a common Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), with which the manufacturers of these devices conform voluntarily. The MIDI protocol is successful in large part because it is flexible enough to allow for divergent development and is therefore less apt to hinder long-term progress in musical technology.

Personal Interests within a Governmental Structure

Many people mistakenly assume that private interests are associated only with market activities, while the actions of government officials must by definition be motivated by an impersonal higher "public interest." Yet the occupants of the various positions within a governmental structure are human beings with their own subjective value scales. Those value scales might be construed as benevolent or malevolent; they may be consonant with the common good or the wishes of the majority of the people, or dissonant with those ends. Regardless, officials will always act to maximize their utility as measured by those value scales. This fundamental praxeological principle (p. 4.4:1) applies equally well to presidents, legislators, judges, regulators, policemen, dictators, high-level bureaucrats, and low-level functionaries.

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